Proofs of Jesus’ Deity – John Gerstner

Posted on November 13, 2012 by PS

In John Gerstner’s little known treatise, A Primer on the Deity of Christ, he provides several unique proofs of the deity of Christ from the Gospels.  His treatise is a short dialogue and worth reading for the discussion around the proofs.  The most compelling include the following:

  • In John 8:31a, John makes reference to “the Jews who had believed him”.  But by the end of the chapter many of those same people “picked up stones to throw at him” (8:59a).  Why the change?  They thought Jesus was one person, but when they learned that Jesus claimed divinity, they were outraged in did not believe in Him any longer.
  • On many occasions Jesus appeals to nothing as His source of authority outside of Himself.  In the Beatitudes He proclaims the types of people will inherit the kingdom, who are the children of God and so on without appealing to the Father’s name as the basis of His pronouncement.  Likewise, Jesus puts Himself at the level of Old Testament revelation when He says “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago…, but I tell you…” (Matthew 5:21, 33)
  • In Matthew 5:11-12, Jesus states, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”  By saying this Jesus implies that the prophets from hundreds of years earlier suffered for Him, so at a minimum He is expressing that existed before taking human form.  He is also implying that the prophets suffered for Him as God.
  • Only God can provide assurance that one who follows Him will be saved, yet Jesus says in Matthew 7:24-25, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.”
  • God is the judge of the living and the dead, but Jesus said that He will assume this role, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:21-23).
  • Jesus implied that He uniquely knew the Father and the Father knew Him when He said, “All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” (Matthew 11:27).  No man or angel knows God uniquely save God Himself.
  • Jesus commands the disciples to baptize in His name making Him equal with the Father.  “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20).  He then implies His omnipresence by promising to always be with them.
  • To make Jesus’ message clearer in John 14:9 and John 10:30, substitute “God” for “Father” when Jesus said, “He who has seen me has seen the Father (God)” and “I and the Father (God) are one.”

For more Biblical proof of Jesus divinity, see the page Who Is God?

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God is Not our Idol

Posted on November 10, 2012 by PS

In the second commandment, God directs us to not make idols – anything in the likeness from heaven, earth or the seas.  When we hear the word idol, we probably make the association to figurines of stone or metal.  We may think of Hindus as good examples of idolators with their millions of gods represented by colorfully carved statues in temples sprinkled across the Indian landscape.  In our context, we may not worship imaginary gods, but idolize wealth, pleasure and power as ungodly desires of our heart.  Yet, we rarely think of God Himself as our idol.  God as our idol you ask?  What does this mean?

Think of it this way.  Many of us idolize people we see in the media.  Whether its a beautiful movie star, an amazing athlete or someone in a position of power, we’d like to have a relationship with them.  Our desire to befriend them is based on our knowledge of them from the two dimensions we see them in on our screen.  Because we only see part of of their personality, the glamorized side, we assume that whole of the person is worthy of a relationship.  We focus on the aspects of the celebrity that we deem desirable and minimize the undesirable characteristics of that person – unfaithfulness, addiction, self-centeredness and so forth.

This selective approach to a relationship is true of how we may engage with God as well.  We often make Him what we want Him to be rather than accepting how He reveals Himself in His words and works.  We make a god of our own liking (often in our own image and likeness) based on what we wish for (e.g., a genie awaiting our command) instead of seeking to understand who He says that He is.  We are guilty of creating an idol when we incorrectly understand Him when we relate to Him in worship or prayer.

We do this by taking the characteristics of God that we find attractive and ignoring or rejecting the aspects that are troubling or difficult to understand.  We cling to the idea that God is love, without understanding that God’s definition of love includes discipline.  CS Lewis makes the point this way in The Problem of Pain:

“By the goodness of God we mean nowadays almost exclusively His lovingness; and in this we may be right. And by Love, in this context, most of us mean kindness—the desire to see others than the self happy; not happy in this way or in that, but just happy. What would really satisfy us would be a God who said of anything we happened to like doing, ‘What does it matter so long as they are contented?’ We want, in fact, not so much a Father in Heaven as a grandfather in heaven—a senile benevolence who, as they say, ‘liked to see young people enjoying themselves’, and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be truly said at the end of the day, ‘a good time was had by all'”.

We avoid the idea that God’s love may also mean His punishment or His testing [like a good father would punish his children for disobeying or challenge them in areas of their life where they are not reaching their potential].  We neuter God, when we define His love as purely giving us what makes us what we think will make us happy.

In this regard, we often don’t accept God as the one who sends calamity (Isaiah 45:7).  We avoid studying His justice or wrath.  Instead, when disaster strikes, we begin to ask whether God is good or whether He is all powerful because our self-defined view of His love is shattered.  We become the caricature artist and draw God as we wish that He looked – a big heart of love, no fist of wrath and a goofy smile as He overlooks our faults.

Beyond inflating the attributes of God that we approve of and minimizing or removing the attributes that we disapprove of, we make an idol by avoiding topics about Him that we can’t completely understand such as the Trinity and the dual nature of Christ.  While we believe in both doctrines, we probably shy away from studying each because of their difficulty and therefore don’t understand the relationship between the Father, Son and Spirit or Jesus as fully man and fully God in one person.  Yet the relationship between the Father and the Son is impossible to escape in the Gospels and the co-existance of Jesus’ humanity and deity are seen throughout His life and further explained in the Epistles and Hebrews.

As Stephen Charnock, author of the most expansive work on the attributes of God, said, “‘It is impossible to honor God as we ought, unless we know Him as He is.”  In what ways are you avoiding knowing Him as He is that you might fully worship Him in spirit and truth as He desires?

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Christian Books about Suffering

Posted on November 3, 2012 by PS

The Bible clearly teaches that Christians will suffer.  It’s not a question of if, but a question of when.  2 Timothy 3:12 tells us, “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” and 1 Peter 2:21 teaches us to be like Jesus in suffering, “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.”

Suffering may come through sickness, persecution, financial hardship, the death of loved ones or natural disaster.  How we respond will show what’s truly in our heart (Matthew 15:19).  Knowing that our future will have some challenges, it’s wise to prepare yourself to Biblically understand what God does through trials and affliction.  It is helpful to know beforehand that God is sovereign in all circumstances and uses these situations to mature us for our good and His glory (Genesis 50:20, Romans 8:28).  The following list of books are the best available on the topic of affliction:

  • A Crook in the Lot (Thomas Boston): Focuses on how God humbles us through affliction in order to prepare us for heaven.
  • All Things for Good (Thomas Watson): An amazing treatise on Romans 8:28, which explains how God works through difficult situations
  • How Long O Lord? (DA Carson): The most theologically dense on the list, but also the most exhaustive treatment of the topic.  Definitely worth working through, but not a quick read
  • Suffering and the Sovereignty of God (John Piper and others): A compilation of messages from a Desiring God conference from the same topic.  The quality of the chapters vary significantly, but Piper’s chapter alone make it worth having
  • The Problem of Pain (CS Lewis): Tackles difficult questions about the nature of suffering thoughtfully
  • Foxe’s Book of Martyrs (John Foxe): Classic work that provides accounts of martyrs for the faith and the extent to which they willingly suffered to obey God rather than man.  It helps us better understand how limited our trials may be compared to others’
  • Making Sense of Suffering (Peter Kreeft): A readable philosophy book with a great deal of distilled wisdom.  However, Kreeft holds many non-Christian beliefs such as universalism, so read him cautiously
  • The Gospel According to Job (Mike Mason): A ‘devotional commentary’ through the book of Job
  • Trusting God – Even When It Hurts (Jerry Bridges): A study of God’s sovereignty in the midst of suffering
  • When God’s Children Suffer (Horatius Bonar): An explanation of why God allows suffering and suggestions for how to cope with it

Most of these books are not written to comfort someone trying to understand their painful experience (like Job).  If you’re looking for ideas for this reason consider these:

  • Loss of a spouse – A Grief Observed (CS Lewis): In the emotional counterpart to The Problem of Pain, we experience the loss of a loved one, CS Lewis’ wife, through the authors eyes and feel his pain
  • Loss of a spouse – A Grief Sanctified (Richard Baxter)
  • Loss of a child – Lament for a Son (Nicholas Wolterstorff)
  • Loss of multiple family members in a car accident – A Grace Disguised (Jerry Sittser)
  • Miscarriage – Letters to My Unborn Children (Shawn Collins)
  • Cancer – My God is True (Paul Wolfe) or Don’t Waste Your Cancer (John Piper)
  • Facing death – Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions (John Donne)
  • Depression – Spurgeon’s Sorrows (Zach Eswine)

If you’d like advice on loving those who grieve, see the link.

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Reformation Day Overview Resources

Posted on October 27, 2012 by PS

Reformation Day is a good opportunity to teach your children about the courage of Martin Luther as he attempted to reform the Catholic Church.  Luther didn’t intend to change the course of history, but he obeyed the revelation of God in the Scriptures rather than the tradition taught by the church.  There are plenty of books about Luther, but simple online resources about the Reformation seem to be few and far between.  Here are a few to consider using to understand the significance of the day:

Two minute overview to the event of Reformation Day as told by Legos

A dramatic introduction to Luther by Max Maclain

PBS also has an hour long overview

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Questions to Consider before Leaving a Church

Posted on October 18, 2012 by PS

In this interview with John MacArthur and related article, he discusses when to leave a church.  Three points in his commentary are helpful when thinking about this topic:

1) You don’t go to church, you are the church. You take the church to the place.
2) Don’t be in a big hurry to leave unless you know that the Word of God is being compromised either in the teaching, or in the living of the leadership… But the question that needs to be asked is is he faithful to the core of the gospel (Triune God, deity of Christ, deity of the Holy Spirit, deity of God the Father, the virgin birth, the sinless life of Christ, substitutionary atonement, literal resurrection, salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone)? That’s what I call the drive train. If those things are right, you might have to tolerate some of the other things that aren’t nearly as absolutely critical as those are
3) Many Christians in history not having the option to select a church. It’s more of an American consumer mentality (my paraphrase)

Based on MacArthur’s thoughts as background context, here are eight questions to consider as you think about the decision to stay or leave:

1) Can you continue to wholeheartedly support the mission and ministry of your current church with your time, talents and treasures?  Are the issues new or long-lasting?
2) Are the theology issues major or minor?  How sure are you of your view?
3) Are your children impacted in a negative way or would they be better off elsewhere?
4) Are you and/or your spouse significantly impacted in a negative way or would you be better off elsewhere?
5) The grass may not be greener elsewhere and not attending isn’t an option (Hebrews 10:25), so do you know of a good alternative?
6) How much are you damaging the church (i.e., the people) by leaving (Mark 12:31)?
7) Can you influence the reformation of the church by staying?
8) How is God most glorified (1 Corinthians 10:31)?
9) Have you searched your heart to make sure that the issue isn’t with you (Jeremiah 17:9)?

If, after careful consideration and prayer, you decide to leave here are questions to ask of a new church.

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Children’s Bible Recommendations

Posted on October 13, 2012 by PS

We are blessed to have access to tens of choices of Bibles in all kinds of sizes, translations and notes.  If you don’t know about the struggle to get a vernacular translation, you should read about the life of John Wycliffe or William Tyndale and the history of the English Bible. You can teach your kids about Tyndale’s work through this animated movie.  The blessing of a wide selection of texts is no different for children’s Bibles on the market, so it’s challenging to know which to use.  Here are some recommendations based on age:

Ages 3-4:  At this early age, you just need something that introduces your children to the basic narratives in God’s word.  100 Bible Stories, 100 Bible Songs keeps the stories short and has engaging illustrations.  It has the added bonus of including a CD with a song for each story.  The Early Readers Bible (see below) can also be used for this age.

Ages 4-6: My favorite for this age is the The Big Picture Interactive Bible Storybook.  It summarizes the key stories well into a one page daily story and ends each lesson with a catechistic question and answer to reinforce the main point.  Alternatively The Jesus Storybook Bible is unique in that it shows how every story in the Bible points to Jesus.  The stories are short and the book has bright vibrant, playful illustrations that engage young children.  If you are teaching your child to read, The Early Readers Bible is a great option.  It uses very simple, high frequency words and repeats them often.  It also adds new words with each story that then are built upon in future stories.

Ages 6-8: The ESV Illustrated Family Bible offers 270 selections from the actual text of the ESV.  It includes full page illustrations that capture the key element of each story.  The Bible is a nice bridge between those without illustrations and the complete text.  The Golden Children’s Bible is a good option as well, but tends to use a little older language and a different style of illustrations.  The text is also a little smoother because it’s not drawn directly from a Bible translation.  It appears to be out of print, so you’ll need to find it used

Ages 9-11: At this age, children should be reading larger sections of text to learn about God beyond the action narratives (e.g., David and Goliath).  The New Living Translation can help them ease into the complete text with its more readable translation.  This Student Life Application Bible is one option in this category.  The Children’s Illustrated Bible is a good supplement to the full text.  It provides details about history, geography and culture that enhance and explain the background of key events, which aid in understanding the world of 2,000-4,000 years ago.  Note that in some cases it tried to apply a naturalistic explanation to miracles, so you’ll need to read it critically.

Ages 12+: When a child is 12, s/he should be able to use the same version as you and your church.  For many churches this is the ESV, but it may also be the NIV or NASB.  If you’re doing memory work with your kids, the version that they memorize should be the ultimate destination for the translation they use at this point so that it reinforces the effort they’ve put into hiding God’s word in their hearts

As you read the Bible with your kids, consider a schedule that has you reading the stories six days during the week and then spending the seventh day reviewing what you covered during this time.  You may also want to start each of the six days by taking a minute asking questions about yesterday’s text before moving to today’s.  This encourages children to listen and articulate what they learned, so you can reread if they missed the key events or message.  Spending this extra time reinforces the previous lessons, which is more important than racing forward.

For additional ideas see the articles titled What to Teach Children about the Bible and Practical Ways to Teach the Bible to Kids

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Essentials of Worship – Gary Parrett

Posted on October 11, 2012 by PS

In the seminar titled Essentials of Worship, Gary Parrett outlines 11 principles of worship.  The lectures are relatively short and total 3-4 hours, but well worth your time.  Worship has little to do with singing, so his explanations may reorient your thinking to the Biblical view of worship.  To get you thinking about the topic, Parrett’s principles are as follows:

  1. Worship always involves revelation and response
  2. Worship is something that we do both individually and in community
  3. Habitual lifestyle worship is more important than our intentional actions of worship in religious settings
  4. Individual worship and congregational worship inform and strengthen one another
  5. Worship requires participation; it is not a “spectator sport.”
  6. Worship involves participation of our entire being
  7. The substance of our worship is always more important than the style or form of our worship
  8. When we worship as a community, we are participating in something larger than ourselves
  9. We worship as a community, our concerns for individual freedom and self-expression must be balanced with the need to “prefer one another in love” and “consider others more important than yourself.”
  10. Worship is first and foremost for God and about God; its benefits in forming believers and in reaching unbelievers are secondary
  11. God is both the Subject and the Object of our worship

If you don’t have time for the seminar sessions, Parrett’s Christianity Today article covers most of his principles.  He also has an extended version of the Worship class, which more exhaustively cover the topic

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Definition of Faith – John Murray

Posted on September 30, 2012 by PS

What is faith?  Here’s John Murray’s summarized definition.  Faith is knowledge, conviction and trust. Faith is knowledge passing into conviction and is conviction passing into confidence. Faith is trust in a person, the person of Christ, the Son of God and Savior of the lost. It is entrustment of ourselves to Him.

  • Knowledge: We don’t trust a person of whom we know nothing. We must know who Christ is, what He has done, and what He is able to do…Otherwise faith would be blind conjecture at the best and foolish mockery at the worst. There must be apprehension of the truth of Christ.
  • Conviction: Faith is not only an assent to the truth respecting Christ but also a recognition of the exact correspondence that there is between the truth of Christ and our deeds as lost sinners…It is conviction registers the verdict that Christ is exactly suited to all that I am in my sin and misery and to all that I should aspire to be by God’s grac
  • Trust: Faith cannot stop short of self-commitment of Christ, a transference of reliance upon ourselves and all human resources to reliance upon Christ alone for salvation. It is receiving and resting upon Him.

— John Murray (Redemption: Accomplished and Applied)

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Growing Beyond Immaturity

Posted on September 26, 2012 by PS

Have you ever thought of what maturity looks like in life? What are we really striving to grow to be?  In many ways it’s helpful to look at the characteristics of children and then consider how we should act differently then them.  Consider this list of childish characteristics:

  • Self-centered: Children need attention.  “Look at this Mommy”  “Watch me Daddy”. They crave constant affirmation.  This is perfectly natural as they find their own place in the world and discover strengths and weaknesses, but it leads to a constant focus on them.  As we mature, our focus needs to turn to others and to God (Matthew 6:33, Luke 10:27).  We are to think of others better than ourselves (Philippians 2:3) and become living sacrifices to God (Romans 12:1).  This kind of change is challenging in a consumer advertising driven society where we’re always being told to fulfill our needs, but is necessary to follow God’s will
  • Impatient: Now, now, now; children are demanding.  They want everything on their time schedule regardless of others’ needs.  Yet the mature are willing to wait (1 Corinthians 13:4).  Waiting on God is a recurring theme throughout time.  Abraham and Sarah had to wait for a child (as did many others), Joseph had to wait to become Vice President of Egypt, the Israelites had to wait for many years for God to redeem them from slavery just to name a few examples. This concept is novel in a world were we can get nearly anything we want instantly.  This instant gratification and leads to impatience with others and especially with God when He doesn’t make our situation work out as we’d like it to.  The mature trust God’s timing knowing that He’s in control
  • Slow or insincere forgiveness: This may not be a unique characteristic of children, but it is a sign of immaturity.  Forgiveness is often mumbled and forced (as are apologies). As we mature, we need to learn to forgive quickly and frequently (Matthew 18:22). This isn’t an easy task because the harm others can do to us increases exponentially as we age. Children might get in a skirmish over a toy or meanly say “I don’t want to be your friend”, while adults struggle through divorce or court battles with siblings over inheritances. Yet Jesus teaches us to be reconciled to each other (Matthew 5:23-25) and that it’s better to be wronged than take another Christian to court (1 Corinthians 6:1-8).  Our wounds run deep and scars never completely heal, yet this is an area that we must let Jesus example shine upon where He forgave loved us (John 15:13) despite the separation that sin creates in our relationship with God.  He forgave the betrayal of one of His best friends (John 21:15-17) and the men who were crucifying Him (Luke 23:34).  How much more should we follow Jesus’ example and forgive others from our heart (Matthew 6:14-15)
  • Fearful (but run to parent): The world is big and children are scared of many things – storms, robbers, monsters, unknown people.  Adults are fearful too, but of different things – evangelism, sickness/death, unemployment.  We are not to have a spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7), but trust in a sovereign God (Romans 8:28).  This does not mean that everything will go our way (consider the lives of Joseph, Job and many others), but that God is in control (Genesis 50:10, Matthew 6:25-34)
  • Ungrateful: Thankfulness does not come natural to children.  “Thank you” isn’t part of their normal vocabulary.  Instead, they have a demanding entitlement mentality and often issue commands about food, drink and their other needs to adults.  They assume that they have the right to have their needs met and that everyone should be at their beck and call.  Maturity is recognizing that every good and perfect gift is from God (James 1:17) and that we don’t deserve anything (1 Corinthians 4:7).  Our hearts should be grateful to Him for just having the basics and should overflow with praise for anything more that we receive (Colossians 3:17, Hebrews 13:15).  This may sometimes be difficult because we see that others have more because God provides for the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45) and often breaking God’s commands leads to great (worldly) gain rather than our attempts at godliness (Jeremiah 12:1; Psalm 37:1,7; 94:3).  We must learn that every good gift is from God (James 1:17, Matthew 7:11) and the greatest gift is the sacrifice of His Son (Romans 8:32).
  • Envious: Kids want what others have and are discontented when they don’t get it.  They may have just received a shiny new toy, but it quickly loses its luster when a friend has something bigger and better.  Adults struggle in the same way as children, but God called this one out in Exodus 20:17, when we’re told not to covet our neighbor’s stuff. Despite coveting making God’s top ten list, we still spend a lot of time being envious of their house, car, vacations and so forth anyway.  We’re rarely jealous of their spiritual discipline or prayer life.  We must mature past loving the things of the world (1 John 2:15) and to storing up treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21) by serving God.
  • Stingy: This is the flip side of jealously.  A child has a toy that his friends or siblings could enjoy, but wants it all for himself.  This is natural and the child should have some rights to the toy, such that he doesn’t need to give it up just because another demands it.  Adults also struggle to share, though this is often in the form of giving rather than loaning an object.  The early church in the book of Acts provides us a model for this where everyone shared so that no one lacked (Acts 4:32).  Jesus also talks about lending without expecting anything in return (Luke 6:30), selling all and giving to the poor (Matthew 19:21), and storing up treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21). Jesus sets a high standard when He said that to whom much has been given, much will be expected (Luke 12:48).  However, our giving is to be done joyfully (2 Corinthians 9:7).
  • Highly impressionable:  Kids are easily persuaded.  They seek role models and imitate their behavior.  Media has a significant impact on them – from McDonald’s ads to music videos – they are inundated with messages that they grow to believe.  Without a solid grounding in Scripture, adults aren’t much different.  We’re prone to follow every wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4:14) – a fascination with angels, kids coming back from heaven, The Shack etc.  Instead, we are to be like the Bereans who searched the Scriptures to validate what was being taught to them (Acts 17:11).
  • Helpless: Babies enter the world completely dependent; entirely helpless.  They can’t even lift their little heads.  As they develop physically, mentally and spiritually, they are able to do more on their own.  They can feed themselves, bath themselves and eventually educate themselves.  Yet, many Christians are still babes in the Word and still eating milk rather than solid food (Hebrews 5:11-14).  To be mature, we need to learn how to be self-sufficient with Bible study and its application to life.  We still need our pastor’s expository sermon weekly and we can still make use of commentaries and other study helps, but we should have the tools to dissect a passage to understand its genre, context and historical setting to draw out the intent of the writer and then translate it to our present situation.  Can a seminary trained pastor do this better?…Of course, but that shouldn’t stop us from growing in our study capacity.  Beyond this basic level of maturity, may of us should grow into being teachers of the Word (Hebrews 5:12).  This is not to be taken lightly (James 3:1), but is honorable to God (1 Timothy 5:17).

You’ll notice that many of the characteristics of maturity are interrelated.  Our capacity to give is connected closely to our level of thankfulness and inversely related to the jealousy that wells up in our hearts.  Helplessness and impressionability are cut from the same cloth.  The idea of self-centeredness is the common thread across many.  Let us flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart (2 Timothy 2:22) and put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:20-24).

On a final note, the characteristics of children are not all negative.  They are enthusiastic, brutally honest about others (“why is that man fat?”), constantly questioning (“why”), learn quickly, adapt to change and accepting of those different then themselves. All of us have a long way to grow in the likeness of Christ, so let’s learn from both the positive and negative characteristics of children.

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Summarize Implications to Improve Personal Bible Study Time

Posted on September 24, 2012 by PS

As we approach our Bible study or reading of a Christian book, it’s easy to flip pages or be satisfied with ourselves for ‘putting in the time’ without thinking through fully the implications of what we just learned.  This activity is of little value because we’ll soon forget any scrap of truth that may have been revealed to us by the Spirit of God.  Research has shown that writing a brief summary of learnings and reviewing material over time is key to remembering.  We want to remember truths and apply them to our minds and hearts so that we may be transformed into Christ’s likeness (Romans 12:2).  Our learning should either reinforce our beliefs and behaviors or cause us to alter them due to a clearer understanding of God and ourselves.  Given this goal, consider the following framework as you read or study.  A couple of minutes spent answering relevant questions will help you see implications to your life.  Reviewing these over time will remind you of the changes you need to make as a result of your study.

Questions to answer briefly:

  • God:
    • What did I learn about His nature or character?  How does this change or reinforce my view of Him?
    • What did I learn about His actions or work in history?  How does this change or reinforce my view of Him?
    • What did I learn about His laws, commands or requirements?
    • What do I need to do differently to better glorify Him based on better knowing His nature, work and/or laws?
  • Humanity:
    • What did I learn about human nature or fallenness?  How would I have reacted in similar circumstances?
    • What did I learn about my purpose or destination?
    • What did I learn to better serve and interact with others?
    • How can I better relate to others and show them God’s love based on understanding humanity and our purpose?  Does this reinforce some of my actions or cause me to change?
  • World:
    • What did I learn about Satan or the angels?
    • What did I learn about God’s creation or heaven?
  • Summary: How would I communicate what I learned and the implications to my life in three sentences?
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